Covid-19 fuels hunger and
poverty in Bangladesh
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| A shoeshine in Dhaka, Bangladesh, plying his trade amid the Covid-19 emergency (ANSA) |
Experts warn that the pandemic will throw 50 million into
poverty and worsen food insecurity in Bangladesh.
By Vatican News
Since the start of a nationwide shutdown in Bangladesh on
March 26, the situation of thousands of poor people including ethnic
communities, especially in remote areas, has worsened. For many it has
been a question of survival, with food security growing even more
precarious. Many have not been able to obtain food aid from state-run
schemes.
Government officials say Bangladesh has good food production
and enough food stock, so a food crisis due to the pandemic is unlikely.
However, according to noted economist Mirza Azizul Islam,
with the loss of income and declining purchasing power, large numbers of people
cannot avail of the available food.
“Many people have lost their source of earning and become
temporarily jobless. So, it is the main challenge to ensure food for them by
widening social safety net programmes,” Islam told Dhaka Tribune newspaper.
Shamsul Alam, a member of the General Economy Department at
the state-run Planning Commission, agreed that millions risk slipping into
poverty due to Covid-19. “We fear more than four million will become extremely
poor, and we need to think about how to support them in the coming days,” Alam
told UCA News.
Poverty
In April, a leading economist from the World Bank warned
that Covid-19 will throw some 50 million into poverty in Bangladesh.
In a report on June 7, the Center for Policy Dialogue (CPD),
a Bangladeshi think tank, said overall poverty has risen by 10 percent and
could return to 40 percent of 15 years ago.
The latest study by the state-run Bureau of Statistics
showed the level of poverty was 24 percent in 2016.
“Due to Covid-19, the number of jobless people has increased
drastically and income has fallen significantly. The poverty rate is growing
fast,” Mustafizur Rahman, a fellow of the CPD, told UCA News.
Food insecurity
Poverty is also most likely to hit hard the millions in
Bangladesh who are already victims of food insecurity.
About a quarter of Bangladesh’s more than 160 million people
are already facing food insecurity. Some 11 million suffer from chronic
hunger, while one in three children are afflicted by stunted growth due to
acute malnutrition, according to the World Food Programme.
There are many heart-rending stories of people slipping into
poverty due to the pandemic.
Maungchanu Tripura, a farmer, has been familiar with poverty
and hunger for years, but the Covid-19 pandemic has worsened the plight of his
family. The 54-year old ethnic Catholic is a father of four in a remote village
in the Lama area of hilly, forested Bandarban district in southeast
Bangladesh.
He earns his livelihood selling rice, arum, mango and
guavas, which he grows in his one-acre ancestral plot. Two of his
daughters go to school.
Stories of pain
“During the rainy season, often crops are destroyed due to
flooding and landslides. People are forced to skip meals and survive with what
they can find in the forests,” Tripura told UCA News.
“This is the fruit season but we are at a big loss. Markets
are closed and traders are few,” he lamented, adding prices are low and they
are “struggling to survive”.
Tripura received no food or cash support during the crisis
except for 1,600 takas (US$19) from Catholic charity Caritas Chittagong.
“People like us really don’t have much of an option in times of crisis. The
government needs to assist us so that we can overcome dire conditions,” he
added.
Mojnu Sarkar, 35, a Muslim father of two, was a machine
operator at a machine tools factory in Dinajpur district until March. He used
to support his family with a monthly wage of 7,000 takas.
“There is no indication if and when the factory will start
again or whether I will have a job. We have been suffering badly since I
returned home,” Sarkar told UCA News.
The family received 10kg of rice and 2,000 taka cash from
local aid groups, which ran out fast. Sarkar borrowed 10,000 takas from
neighbours to survive.
“If we don’t get support from the government and NGOs, and I
remain unemployed, my family will be starving soon, and I will be under severe
pressure to pay back the loan,” he lamented.
Caritas takes on food security
Caritas runs seven food security projects that cover all of
Bangladesh. In Chittagong, three projects directly related to food security
cover about 20,000 people.
“It is essential to ensure food aid to needy people at a
time of crisis, but most important is to ensure their food security
permanently,” said James Gomes, Caritas Chittagong regional director.
“People on the hills are among the most highly food-insecure
communities, and their condition has worsened during the pandemic. Life here is
largely dependent on agriculture, and people live on selling their produce
twice a week,” Gomes told UCA News.
“Their condition will worsen further if nature turns hostile
during the rainy season and triggers flooding and landslides.”
Caritas has been supporting farmers with training to produce
better crops and offering improved seeds. Where necessary, it provides cash
incentives, he explained, adding that people on the hills and in other remote
areas can overcome poverty and hunger with formal education, technical training
and savings.
“Education and training can help get better crop yields,
technical training enables them to get alternative employment, and a savings
mentality is a big support in times of need. We have been prioritizing such
initiatives in our projects to make them sustainable,” Gomes said. (Source: UCA
News)
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